World's First Openly Gay PM?
World's First Openly Gay PM?
#1World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 12:02am
"Icelandic Social Affairs Minister Johanna Sigurðardottir would be the world's first openly gay leader if she becomes Prime Minister of Iceland, as is widely expected. Although Per-Kristian Foss served as acting Prime Minister in Norway very briefly in 2002, this represents the first time that a gay leader would assume the reins of a modern state."
Icelandic Minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, Would Be World's First Gay PM
#3re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 2:11am
I wonder if Icelandic have any latin influence.
Sigur=segura
#4re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 2:48amFirst off, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is a woman. No language is strange if you know it, or even some of it. I took basic and intermediate online courses in Icelandic from the University of Iceland, and that was a while ago, when I was obsessed with Iceland, but I can still remember some of it. Icelandic is kind of like Danish's great-grandchild but only if Danish messed around with some Norwegians and Swedes and then moved to a far far away island. I assume that maybe Iceland would legalise same-sex marriage when Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is elected.
#5re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 5:23am
First off, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is a woman.
*scratches head* Where, exactly, did anyone accuse her of being a man? I mean, the way you say that sounds like you're implying "you stupid idiots, why would you assume she's a man?!", which implies that someone has referred to her as a "he" in this thread. An' I'm not seeing that. O_O
#6re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 5:52am
Emma's back!!!!!!!!
Now that Gypsy is closed, she must have a lot of time on her hands.
#7re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:06amoh sheesh, now it claims to speak Icelandic......this is just too ridiculous.......
Madcap Maisie
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/08
#8re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:06am
Cruel_Sandwich
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/30/05
#9re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:04amWorld's first openly gay private message?
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
sally1112
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/04
#11re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:28amCruel, that is exactly what I thought this meant!And I thought to myself, I have sent and received, many, many, many gay private messages.
#12re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 9:36am
Cruel, I thought the same as well! I was like, "...well, this IS BroadwayWorld."
Congratulations to Ms. Johanna [UNPRONOUNCEABLE], though!
Icelandic is kind of like Danish's great-grandchild but only if Danish messed around with some Norwegians and Swedes and then moved to a far far away island.
This sounds like the plot of some screwed-up lost Shakespeare play that's a cross between Hamlet, As You Like It, and the Tempest. Icelandic is cooool-sounding, though.
#13re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:28am
No language is strange if you know it, or even some of it.
Not really. English is a very odd language. It borrows from several different other languages, has far too many homonyms and homophones, and no consistent rules in pronunciation. I applaud anyone who is not a native speaker trying to learn it. For those who only know some of it, it is still very strange and frustrating.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#14re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:30am
Odd you should mention this! I was staying in New York this week and the maid came in to clean the room before I was quite ready to head out- so I told her to go ahead while I prepared to begin my day. The TV was on and there was a story about this very subject. I could sense the maid was disapproving of something so I asked what the problem was. She gestured at the TV "This! IS no career for a decent Icelandic woman, to be Prime Minister!" Besides, she is lesbian! She couldn't even attend a decent christian high school like that! And Icelandic! It is a strange language!"
I felt slighted, angry and sad all at once. I don't think I want to stay at that hotel any more- can anyone suggest a better hotel with more non-judgmental maids?
#15re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:34am
Hotel Carter
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/92930/times-square-hotel-ranked--dirtiest--in-nation/Default.aspx
vmlinnie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/19/06
#16re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:37am
Icelandic isn't really influenced by Latin. It's a similar case to Finnish, in that it escaped most outside influences.
Pity she's not been elected PM. That would be the real challenge.
deep-delving, dark, deliberate you would say
browsing on spire and bogland; but today
our sky-blue slates are steaming in the sun,
our yachts tinkling and dancing in the bay
like racehorses. We contemplate at last
shining windows, a future forbidden to no one.
Derek Mahon
"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets."
Arthur Miller
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
wexy
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/05
#18re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 11:00am
They don't really go by last names there 'dottir' is daughter and all women have that and men have 'son' as part of their surnames
meanwhile they dumped the one of the world's worst economies on her.
#19re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:28pm
Sorry, Weez. I misread antonijan's post and thought that he asked "How do you pronounce HIS last name." I personally believe that no language is strange if you know it. That's why I hate the term "foreign" language, because once you learn them, they are no longer foreign to you. Oh, and vmlinnie, I think that Finnish is much farther removed from European languages than Icelandic. Icelandic is largely based on Danish, and as I said, mixed with Norwegian and Swedish, but because its' speakers are so far away from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, they have changed much of the vocabulary and therefore, Icelandic is not mutually intelligible with Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are all mutually intelligible with each other. I speak fluent Danish, I studied Bokmål Norwegian for 1 month in Oslo at a Norwegian language workshop in September 2008, and I have studied bits and pieces of the Swedish language over the years. However, even without Norwegian and Swedish language study, I can still understand those languages and can converse with speakers of those languages who speak no or very little Danish. For example, I have a friend Ida who lives in Malmö, in southern Sweden. She doesn't speak Danish, and I don't speak Swedish, so I write to her in Danish and she writes back in Swedish, but I still understand it. Also, it is even easier to do that while speaking because her accent is almost Danish, because Malmö and Southern Sweden has an almost Danish accent, even though they speak Swedish.
Also, why would it be ridiculous for me to speak Icelandic? I never said I spoke it fluently, but I did take Icelandic courses from the University of Iceland and I spoke it very well at a time. In fact, I occasionally encounter Icelandic tourists and I usually speak some Icelandic to them, and they say that I speak it very well.
#20re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:32pm
Does anyone other than me love to watch those "Multi-language" versions of Disney songs? I like hearing the different tone qualities and the way the words rhyme. Well, my favourite (besides that whole multi Jean Valjean thing on the Les Mis TAC) is the multi-language version of "We Are One" from The Lion King 2. Yes, I'm so ashamed, but it's finally out in the open-- I own and enjoy The Lion King 2.
Anyway, Icelandic sounds CRAZY. The only language that sounds harder to pronounce on those things is Hungarian. I just gape wild-eyed at the crazy sounds coming out of Simba's mouth.
#21re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:36pmOh, I love the multilanguage videos. My favourite is the "For A Moment" one from The Little Mermaid 2. Oh, Hungarian is very difficult. It's especially difficult because every letter is pronounced, while most other languages have silent letters and syllables. Icelandic is not so difficult if you know any other Scandinavian language though, and it's a stretch, but knowledge of German could help, too. I loved the multilanguage Jean Valjean thing, too, Schmerg.
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#22re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:59pm
speaking of foreign languages... i have a video of the making of miss saigon in germany and it's very interesting watching Aura Deva (from the Philippines) learning to sing the songs in German...
and i remember an interview with one of the KIMs in the German company who had just finished a run in the Dutch production... she said that halfway through I'd Give My Life For You she started singing the song in Dutch and then finished it off in German again... she said everyone backstage was like WTF just happened? haha... i don't blame her... german and dutch almost sound the same
and lastly... the Hungarian language sounds weird to me! my friend was speaking it and it just sounded not easy on the ears... but then again neither is german or dutch...
and i applaud people who learn the English language... which really is the most difficult language in the world to learn... like someone said... we have no real rules for our language...
wexy
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/05
#23re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:01pmAnd it helps to understand the Sigur Ros lyrics
#24re: World's First Openly Gay PM?
Posted: 2/1/09 at 6:46pm
It's Official: Iceland Has World's First Openly Gay PM
Videos